Counter for tabulating machines



Oct. 4, 1932. E. A. FORD ET AL COUNTER FOR TABULATING MACHINES Filed April 17. 1923 6 Sheets-Sheet l A www ,l

Snom/wow gli s Y (L Y mlbtm C/ovfuc.,

Oct.

4, 1932. E. A. FORD ET AL COUNTER FOR TABULATING MACHINES Filed April 17, 1925 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TT ORNE YS.

Oct. 4, 1932. E. A. FORD ET AL 1,880,426

COUNTER FOR TABULATING MACHINES Filed April 17, 1925 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Oct. 4, 1932. E. A, FORD ET AL COUNTER FOR TABULATING MACHINES Filed April 17. 1923 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Oct. 4 1932.l E, A. FORD ET Al.

COUNTER FOR TABULATING MACHINES 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 17, 1923 Oct. 4, 1932. E. A. FQRD ET AL 1,880,426

COUNTER FOR TABULATING MACHINES Filed April 1'?, 1925 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 bwk ATTORNEYS.

Patented Oct. 4, 1932 UNITED STATE-S PATENT oFFlcE EUGENE A. FORD, F WEST NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, AND FREDERICK STORY, OF ENDICOTT, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS T0 THE TABULATING MACHINE COMPANY, 0F ENDICOTT, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY y COUNTER FOB TABULATING MACHINES Application filed April 17,

The present invention is directed to the provision of an improved accumulator for use in tabulating machines. Y

Broadly, the present invention 1s dlrected to the provision of an accumulator having a plurality of sets of accumulator elements such as counter wheels, in which common actuators are provided for concurrently controlling the moving of wheels or other elements 1n both accumulators and in which the movement of the common actuators 1s controlled directly from the record cards.

Heretofore in tabulators of the Hollerlth type it has been the practice to utillze a plu rality of counters electrlcally plugged together when it was desired to take sub and grand totals. While satisfactory results may be thus secured, the counter capacity of a machine is in a measure limited. In the present invention, the counter or-accumulator 1s made double with two sets of wheels. Both sets are controlled by a common set of counter ma nets. A single set of actuators is provided or both sets of wheels. The actuators are themselves directly controlled by the counter magnets.

Further objects of the present invention reside in an impro ed accumulator construction which will permit the resetting of one accumulator without disturbing the resetting of the other accumulator.

Other objects of the present invention reside in the provision of certain interlocking devices to prevent errors in the accumulation upon resettingl operations.

Further objects of the present invention will be hereafter described in the accompanying specification and claim and shown in the drawings which by way of illustration portray a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of my improved accumulator. The section is taken on line 1-1 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 2 is a different sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the counter unit looking from the right in Fig. 5. This view 1923. Serial No. 632,611.

also shows certain details of the drive for the resetting mechanism.

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view with certain parts omitted. The section is taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 5 is a front view of the device with certain parts broken away to show the interior construction. Y

Fig. 6 is a detail view of the reset throwout clutch for the upper counter or accumulator. This view is ta en substantially on lines 6-6 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a detail view taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 1 of the clutch devices and shows their control vby the magnets.

Figs. 8 to 14 are detail views of the counter wheels, the sections being taken on correspondingly numbered lines in the different vlews.

Fig. is a circuit diagram and shows diagrammatically the card feed devices.

Before describin the apparatus, the circuit diagram will l(be briefly described. 2O designates the stack of cards from which a picker device 21 takes the cards one at a time and advances each card to rolls 22, which feed the cards past the brushes and contact blocks 22a. Gearing 23 drives the rolls and picker and rotates counter drive shaft 24. These ears are rotated by the tabulating motor T. 25 are the counter magnets and 26 the counter relays. The latter are, through the plug board 27 and suitable leads, connected to the contact blocks 22a. 30 is the emergency stop key and 31 the lstart key. 32 and 32a are the main motor and motorcontrol relays. 33 is a relay vfor supplying current to the counter relays and counter magnets after the card lever contacts 28 have been closed. 'Cams 34, 35 and 36 are those 9 commonly used in tabulating machines to control the circuits thereof.

Referrin to the counter mechanism, 24 is the main ta ulator drive shaft carrying suitable gears 40 shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3 meshing with a gear 41 on each counter. This gear is fixed to a shaft 42 which also has fixed to it a gear 43 meshing with a ear 44 xed on shaft 45 (see Figs. 2 and 4) he shaft 45 is the main clutch shaft of thls coun- -oted mem r 51 to engage the clutchF ter. S lined to shaft 45 are a number' of clutch e ements 48, (Fig. 7), which are adapted to be enga d with clutch elements fast to gears 49, w ich gears are rotatable upon the shaft 45. T he selective en ment of the clutches 48 is eected by t e energization of the counter magnets 25. The energization of any magnet attracts its armature` rovided two counter wheel shafts 46 and 47.

otatably disposed upon these shafts are `gears 53 and 54 which mesh with the common intermediate clutch driven gears` 49 (see Fi 1 and 2).

n each of the shafts 46 and 47 there is rovided a set of counter numeral wheels 55. asmuch as it may be desired to reset one of the sets of counter wheels without resetting the other set provision must be made for permitting the turning of one set of wheels to zero wlthout imparting rotational movement to the wheels of the other set through the common intermediate driving gears 49. For this purpose certain ratchet and pawl driving means are provided intermediate the counter wheels and their driving gears 53-54. J Referring now to Figs 8 to 14, inclusivei `each gear 53 and 54 is rotatably mounte upon the shafts 46-47. The right hand or4 units counter wheel of the upper setA is provided with an integral disc 56, as shown in Figs. 11 and 12, and upon the lower wheel set this integral disc is replaced with a disc 57 having a serrated ri hery and securely riveted to ar 53; (gib igs. 13 and 14.)

Upon ot er of the wheels of the upper set the integral discs just mentioned are omitted. (See Fig. 10.) Upon the Wheels of the lower set except for the one at the extreme right, disc 57 is omitted and replaced by a series of pins 58 riveted directl into the gears 53. (See Figs. 8 and 9.) ooperating with the serrated disc 57 and the pins 58 of the lower set of Wheels are fingers of atransverselyk extending spring pressed bail 59 (see Figs. 1 and 5). This arrangement serves as an overthrow preventor or lock. Suitably fixed to each gear 53 and 54 is a ratchet 60 (Figs. 11, 12, 13 and 14) Cooperating with this ratchet are pawls 61 which are pivotally carried upon a disc 61a, which is suitably fixed to each wheel and are spring pressed into engagement with the ratchet by springs 62. Upon the counterclockwise rotation of the drivinglars 53 or 54 the ratchets 60 will, r

throu e pawls 61, serve to carry the counter w eels 55 forward.

Also vfixed to each counter wheel 55 is a transfer ratchet 63 having a single high tooth `64. This transfer ratchet carries a pawl 65 may then be on the wheels of the other set.

During adding o rations it will be understood that the a ding in of amounts upon b oth the upper and lower sets of counter wheels takes lace concurrently.

To effect t e resetting, provision is made i for turning both shafts 46 and 47 or for disabling the connection to one shaft. Refer.- ring now to Fig. 3, a gear 66 is provided mounted upon a reset shaft (not shown) and turned by a crank or by an electric motor in the usual manner. Rotation of this gear efv fectsrotat-ion of gears 67, 68 and 69. The gear 67 is directly connected to shaft 46 and upon being rotated resets the lower counter wheels to zero. Gear 69 is not fixed directly to the shaft 47 but is ada ted to be clutched to said shaft by a clutch 0' (Fig. 6). This clutch may be'engaged or disengaged by moving a handle 71 (Fig. 1). The handle is provided with a cam member 72 which is adapted to displace a pivoted lever 73 (Fig. 6 and engage the clutch. A suitable sprlng 4 retracts the pivoted lever upon the disengagement of the handle To properly align the shafts at the end of a resetting operation a zero lock lever 75 is rovided which is spring ressed to engage a -shaped notch in a disc 6 carried by shaft 46 (see Fig. 1). The instrumentalities just described permit the conjoint resetting of both the upper and lower counter wheels or only the resetting of the lower set.

The parts generally marked 77 in Fig. 1 constitute the transfer mechanism for the lower counter wheels. These transfer devices may be of any desired' form,I (for ex` ample, those shown in Hollerith Patent No. 974,272).

. These transfer devices are tripped by the high teeth of the transfer ratchets upon the wheels and the relatching o eration and completing of the transfer is e ected by a transfer cam 78 upon transfer cam shaft 42.

The upper wheels are also provided with transfer devices 7 9-80, and these devices are adapted to be set up by means of a bail 80a and of a linkage 81 (see Fig. 2) extended to a bell crank on rock shaft 82 having a folretention of the readingon the other set of lower cooperating with cam 83 on shaft 42 wheels.

In testimony whereof we hereto aix our (see Fig. 2).

During resetting operations a pivoted si member 85,`Fig. 3, is rocked counterclockwise by a pin 86 on gear 66, so that the notch 87 of member 85 engages a pin 88 to rock a mem 1 prevent them from ber 90 (Fig. 4) in a counterclockwise direction whereby the usual bail 91 is thrown into engagement with the transfer trip pawls of v the lower set, thus preventing their being tripped upon the resetting operation. Concurrently, a lever 92 is elevated, which elevates brake members 93 (Fig. 2) into contact with the peripheries of the Wheels, thereby preventing their spinning ahead of their pawl and ratchet devices and overtravelling. Concurrently the overthrow lock 59 is permitted to advance into the path of the cooper ating pins 58 and notched disc 57.

While the upper whee1s are being reset-,l

an arm 94 connected to the lever 71 assumes a position to interfere with the movement of the bail 80a and thus prevent the pawls 7 9 being tripped during the resetting operation.

Just as the completion of the adding operation a cam 96. on shaft 42 (Fig. 4) operates the link 95 and lever 92 is elevated, the brake members 93 come in contact with the pe# ripheries of the counter wheels and thus spinning ahead or overthrowing. Y Y

The shifting of the bar 91 under the Iaction' of cam 78 (Fig. 1) permits a cam pro- ]ection of an arm 90 (see Fig. 4) of the cross bar to engagekwith a finger of the lock bar 59 to shift therlatter to free the wheels during resetting and adding operations. The

bar 91 as it is shifted to the right under control of cam 78 during adding operations permits the re-engagement of the lock bar with the wheels.' During resetting operations when -the bar 91 is shifted to the right un! der the action of member 85 (Fig. 3') to hold the transfer trip pawls the bar permits the overthrow lock to re-engage the adding wheels at the same time the friction brake engages the periphery of the adding wheels.

What we claim as our invention 1s:

Anaccumulator for accumulating amounts from perforated record cards, said accumulator comprising a double set of register wheels, a single set of actuators for said wheels for `operating both sets in an additive direction to enter the same -amount simultaneously, driving mea-ns for said actuators, a

single set of magnets adapted to be controlled from perforations in recordmcards, means controlled by said magnets for effecting driving connection between said actuators and said driving means and similar releasable connecting mechanisms intermediate each set of registering wheels and the actuators to permit resettlng of one set with gnatures. 

